It may not be true for you, but for me the hardest part about climbing a mountain is getting started. Just getting up early and putting on my climbing clothes is a victory, but it isn't a total victory. Many times I've dressed to climb and then not climbed. My second victory is simply getting TO the mountain. I must force my 'will' even when I don't feel like it. And then I have to start. Every si...  Read More

The night before last, it rained like it doesn't rain in Alaska- literally 'buckets' of water falling from the sky. I thought, "We should have laid out the plan yesterday and painted parking lines at the new church." But two days ago the cars of our volunteers were in the way- the parking lot was full. Early yesterday morning the rain stopped and the parking lot dried off.True, it was a small thin...  Read More

Crescendo is an interesting term. As the 'life' of something is being played out, it becomes more powerful, more energetic, more intense, more consuming... Fifteen years ago, the Lord laid it heavily upon my heart that we would one day plant a church in Anchorage- Alaska's largest and 'least churched' city. But I knew all along that this would not be a typical church plant. This would be a church ...  Read More

When I arrived at Airborne School, the first people I noticed were a soldier with one arm in a cast who was painting a building with his other hand, and a soldier with one leg in a cast who was hobbling along pushing a lawn mower. These men were 'recycles.' To graduate from Airborne School, you must complete five successful jumps in a row. If you are injured before jump five, you have two options:...  Read More

The first seven times that I ever flew on a large airplane I only landed twice. The other five times I jumped out of the open door of the plane. Airborne School was three weeks of highly intensive, highly professional training. Nearly 2 weeks was spent perfecting our 'PLF' (parachute landing fall). The objective was to get out of the plane quickly and to land safely. The infantry's small, round pa...  Read More

At the end of basic training, they were assigning us to our duty stations. We did not get to choose where we went, but were allowed to have a general 'wish' list. I was hoping to go somewhere in the south (where I could get a good tan) or overseas. They walked down the rows of soldiers, saying, "North Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas.... and then they came to me. They said,...  Read More

212 men lined up single file in front of the chow hall at meal times. The drill sergeants let in 10 soldiers at a time, and the rest had to do 15 push-ups before the next 10 entered. This was done very rapidly, but those at the end of the line had to do over 600 push-ups (after 2 hours of sit-ups and push-ups) before they got their breakfast. We were then given two minutes to eat and were required...  Read More

And just like that, my Montana life was over. I went to Minnesota to spend Christmas with family, and then headed to Fort Benning, Georgia, for infantry basic training. In those days, there was no separation between basic training and Advanced Infantry Training (AIT), so we had 13 continuous weeks of torture. At 25 years old, I was one of the oldest in my company of 212 soldiers. Life consisted of...  Read More

It was late November and the final day of the deer season. I never had filled my buck tag. I borrowed my friends .222 and went into the foothills of the Snowy Mountains to try to call in a fox or coyote. It was −23° and snowing. That temperature was extremely cold for late November, and it was even more unusual that it was snowing at the time. I was wearing insulated coverals over a heavy hooded p...  Read More

Even an unskilled bowhunter (which I was) will get lucky if he wanders around in game-rich country long enough. Eventually, I made a lucky shot on an elk and was able to stalk and shoot an antelope. I was saving my buck deer tag. The year before I had to pass on a trophy mule deer because I had already filled my tag. I hired on with a local hunting guide who needed help retrieving 4 elk from deep ...  Read More

Fall began in Montana's Little Belt Mountains chasing elk. While I loved the hunting, I felt guilty that I wasn't working. My delayed entry into the army was still several months away. I rented an empty farm house from a rancher friend. I caught Brook trout and shot ducks, pheasants and deer on the creek behind the house and caught a five pound rainbow trout in the pond out front. The highlight of...  Read More

A friend that I grew up with moved into our trailer in the Spring and slept on the couch. Brad G. was all about Montana and still lives there to this day. Recruiters were always coming into the school and talking to students, and I had always regretted not serving in the military. Just like that, the two of us enlisted in the infantry on a 6 month 'delayed entry' program so that we would be able t...  Read More